Ohio.com has a story about trees that makes note of a beautiful stand along Merrimon Avenue in north Ashvegas:
The London plane tree is a hybrid of the American plane tree (also known as the sycamore or buttonwood), and the Oriental plane tree.
This sturdy tree is well known in London, where it helps to soften and shade the urban landscape, a task for which it is well suited for dealing with pollution.
The tree’s characteristic peeling bark enables the tree to renew itself, by peeling off in plates, thus aiding its resistance to airborne pollution, as this trait prevents the pores from
clogging up.Many of the large plane trees that add charm to London’s squares, streets and parks were planted more than 200 years ago as the city expanded. Good examples of larger trees can be found in Berkeley Square, Kew, Kenwood, Ravensbury Park and Morden.
There is an avenue of London plane trees along Merrimon Avenue in Asheville, N.C., that is so beloved that when the city talked about cutting them down so the road could be widened, the residents rose up in protest. They had the avenue declared a historic and protected site. The road, which curves around scenic Beaver Lake, has never been widened.